ALL INDIA RAILWAYMEN’S FEDERATION
4,State Entry Raod, New Delhi – 1100055

RAIL BUDGET DISAPPOINTS THE RAILWAYMEN
New Delhi: 8th July. 2014 — Shri Shiva Gopal Mishra, General Secretary, All India Railwaymen’s Federation (AIRF), has described Rail Budget 2014-15 as “Disappointing”.

This budget has not given any relief to 13 lakh Railway employees, working 24 hrs., 365 days in all weathers, facing arduous conditions, even sacrificing their lives.

The said budget has also given lot of indications of privatization, bringing in FDI and PPP in the Railways, which would be detrimental for the Interest of all the stakeholders, including the rail users.

In this budget, announcement has also been made about the introduction of new trains, but without developing infrastructure and adding manpower, which would endanger Railway Safety.

The budget talks less about the Common Rail User, but much about the Affluent Class, who can afford AC Class travelling.

Shri Mishra has made it amply clear that would not tolerate any  form of privatization in the Railways.

sd/-
(R.K.Mishra)
For General Secretary / AIRF

Source: AIRF

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• Rail Budget Seeks Course Correction, Avoids Populism
• No Increase in Rail Fare
• Stress on Resource Mobilization Through PSU Surplus, FDI and PPP
• Bullet Train on Ahmedabad-Mumbai Corridor Proposed, Speed of Trains to be Increased in Nine Sectors
• More Thrust on Passenger Amenities, Cleanliness & Efficient Station Management
• Multi Pronged Approach for Improving Safety & Security, 4000 Women RPF Constables to be Recruited
• Revamping Railway Reservation System into Next Generation e-Ticketing, WI-FI Services in Major Stations & in Select Trains, Mobile based Wakeup Calls for Passengers
• 58 New Trains Introduced; 11 Existing Trains Extended
• Railway University and Innovation Incubation Centre to be Set UP
• Top Priority to Transparency, e-procurement to be made
• Compulsory in Higher Purchase, Online Registration for Wagons in Next Two Months
• Highest Ever Plan Outlay of Rs. 65,445 Crore with Higher Allocation for Safety Measures

Increased passenger amenities, more safety measures, timely completion of projects and increased financial discipline are the main highlights of the Railway Budget 2014-15 presented by the Minister of Railways Shri D. V. Sadananda Gowda in Parliament today.

The Budget seeks course correction in the light of mismanagement, apathy, populism in starting projects and severe fund crunch that have inflicted the railways over the years, the Minister averred. For this, structural reforms will be introduced and resources will be mobilized through PSU surplus, FDI and PPP.

The Budget proposes multi-pronged approach to make Railway journey safe and secure and comfortable for passengers. More thrust has been placed on passenger amenities, cleanliness and efficient station management. Now all major stations will have foot-over bridges, escalators, lifts etc.

On safety and security, the Budget has proposed introduction of advance technology for rail-flaw detection to check causes of accidents, a significant amount has been kept for road-over and road-under bridges and a pilot project will be launched on automatic door closing in mainline and sub-urban coaches. In order to make women safer while travelling, the Railway will recruit 4000 women constables. Coaches for ladies will be escorted.

IT initiatives get a big boost in the Budget. Revamping Railway Reservation System into Next Generation e-Ticketing will be taken up with provision of platform tickets and unreserved tickets also over internet. The Railway has proposed real-time tracking of trains and rolling stocks, mobile based Wakeup Call System for passengers, mobile based destination arrival alert and Wi-fi Services in A-1 and A category stations and in select trains. Indian Railways has also planned paperless offices in 5 years.

In order to make Railway management more efficient, Budget has proposed setting up of Railway University for training in both technical and non-technical subjects besides establishing Innovations and Incubation Centre to harness the ideas generated from staff.

In a bid to modernise Indian Railway network, Bullet train has been proposed on Mumbai-Ahmadabad sector besides increasing speed of trains to 160-200 kmph in select 9 sectors. The Railway has also planned setting up of Diamond Quadrilateral Network of High Speed Rail connecting major metros and growth centers of the country. Identified stations will be developed to international standards with modern facilities on lines of newly developed airports through PPP mode. Railway has also proposed harnessing solar energy by utilizing roof top spaces of stations, railway buildings and land.

To augment resources of Railways, the Budget has proposed schemes to facilitate procurement of parcel vans and rakes by private parties, special milk tanker trains, increased movement of fruits and vegetables in partnership with Warehousing Corporation and setting up Private Freight Terminals on PPP model.

The Railway has proposed to bring in more transparency in administration and execution of projects. The status of ongoing projects will be available online, E-procurement will be made compulsory for procurement of higher amount and online registration of demands for wagons will be introduced within next two months.

The Budget has passenger centric focus on suburban and metropolitan rail services. 864 additional state-of-the-art EMUs will be introduced in Mumbai in two years. Study to explore possibility of enhancing existing railway network for better connectivity needs of Bangaluru will be taken up.

The Railway Budget 2014-15 has proposed 58 new trains besides extending 11 existing trains. Provision has been made for 28 surveys for new lines and doubling or gauge conversion of lines. Higher funds have been proposed for ongoing projects in Northeast and remote areas. Special packaged trains on identified pilgrim circuits, two tourist trains and a special train featuring life and work of Swami Vivekananda has been proposed in the Budget.

According to the Budget estimates, the Railways will earn  1,64,374 crore through various resources and will spend  1,49,176 crore during 2014-15. The operating ratio is expected to be 92.5% which is 1% better than that in 2013-14.

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Press Information Bureau

Government of India
Ministry of Railways

08-July-2014 13:29 IST

Railway Reservation System to be Revamped

The Minister of Railways Shri D. V. Sadananda Gowda has said that Railway Reservation System will be revamped into Next Generation e-Ticketing System. Ticket booking through mobile phones and through Post Offices will be popularized.

Presenting the Railway Budget 2014-15 in Parliament today he said, the Indian Railways will improve the system capabilities in e-ticketing to support 7200 tickets per minute as against 2000 tickets per minute and allow 1,20,000 simultaneous users at any point in time.

The Minister said, facility of Coin Operated Automatic Ticket Vending Machines will be experimented.
He said, efforts will also be made to provide facility of buying Platform Tickets and unreserved tickets over internet. Parking-cum-Platform Combo Tickets will be launched to facilitate the passengers and to save their time.

He said that online booking facility of Railway Retiring Room will be extended to all the stations during the course of the year. Presenting the Railway Budget 2014-15 in Parliament today he said, the Indian Railways is expanding the scope of online booking for people to book a Train, book a Coach, book a Berth and book a Seat in Chair Car.

****

PIB

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Print Press Information Bureau

Government of India
Ministry of Railways

08-July-2014 13:19 IST

Railways proposes to introduce 58 new trans which includes five Jansadharan Trains, five Premium Trains, six AC Express Trains, 27 Express Trains, eight Passenger Trains, two MEMU services and five DEMU services this year. Announcing this in Parliament today while presenting the rail budget, the Minister of Railways Shri D. V. Sadananda Gowda also proposed to extend the run of 11 existing trains.

Shri Gowda said these services would be meeting the demand surges which manifest themselves on special occasions. He said that special trains would continue to run to meet the holiday and festival rush including services for Melmaruvathur, Velankanni, Jhalawar etc.

NEW TRAINS

Jansadharan Trains

i) Ahmedabad–Darbhanga Jansadharan Express via Surat
Ii Jaynagar–Mumbai Jansadharan Express
ii) Mumbai–Gorakhpur Jansadharan Express
iv) Saharasa–Anand Vihar Jansadharan Express via Motihari
v) Saharasa–Amritsar Jansadharan Express

Premium Trains

i) Mumbai Central–New Delhi Premium AC Express
ii) Shalimar–Chennai Premium AC Express
iii) Secunderabad-­ Hazrat Nizamuddin Premium AC Express
iv) Jaipur–Madurai Premium Express
v) Kamakhya–Bengaluru Premium Express

AC ExpressTrains

i) Vijayawada­NewDelhiAPExpress(Daily)
ii) LokmanyaTilak(T)–Lucknow(Weekly)
iii) Nagpur–Pune(Weekly)
iv) Nagpur–Amritsar(Weekly)
v) Naharlagun–NewDelhi(Weekly)
vi) Nizamuddin–Pune(Weekly)

ExpressTrains

i) Ahmedabad–Patna Express(Weekly)via Varanasi
ii) Ahmedabad­ Chennai Express(Bi­weekly)via Vasai Road
iii) Bengaluru –Mangalore Express(Daily)
iv) Bengaluru –Shimoga Express(Bi­weekly)
v) Bandra(T)–Jaipur Express(Weekly)Via Nagda,Kota
vi) Bidar–Mumbai Express(Weekly)
vii) Chhapra–Lucknow Express (Tri­ weekly)viaBallia,Ghazipur,Varanasi
viii) Ferozpur–Chandigarh Express(6 days a week)
ix) Guwahati–Naharlagun Intercity Express(Daily)
x) Guwahati–Murkongselek Intercity Express(Daily)
xi) Gorakhpur–Anand Vihar Express(Weekly)
xii) Hapa–Bilaspur Express(Weekly)via Nagpur
xiii) Hazur Saheb Nanded–Bikaner Express(Weekly)
xiv) Indore–Jammu Tawi Express(Weekly)
xv) Kamakhya–Katra Express(Weekly)via Darbhanga
xvi) Kanpur–Jammu Tawi Express(Bi­weekly)
xvii) Lokmanya Tilak(T)–Azamgarh Express(Weekly)
xviii) Mumbai_Kazipeth Express(Weekly)via Balharshah
xix) Mumbai–Palitana Express(Weekly)
xx) New Delhi ­Bhatinda Shatabdi Express(Bi­weekly)
xxi) New Delhi–Varanasi Express(Daily)
xxii) Paradeep–Howrah Express(Weekly)
xxiii) Paradeep–Visakhapatnam Express(Weekly)
xxiv) Rajkot–Rewa Express(Weekly)
xxv) Ramnagar–Agra Express(Weekly)
xxvi) Tatanagar Baiyyappanahali (Bengaluru) Express(Weekly)
xxvii) Visakhapatnam–Chennai Express(Weekly)

Passenger Trains

i) Bikaner–Rewari Passenger(Daily)
ii) Dharwad–Dandeli Passenger(Daily)via Alnavar
iii) Gorakhpur–Nautanwa Passenger(Daily)
iv) Guwahati–Mendipathar Passenger(Daily)
v) Hatia–Rourkela Passenger
vi) Byndoor–Kasaragod Passenger(Daily)
vii) Rangapara North–Rangiya Passenger(Daily)
viii) Yesvantpur–Tumkur Passenger(Daily)

MEMU services

i) Bengaluru –Ramanagaram 6 days a week(3Pairs)
ii) Palwal–Delhi–Aligarh

DEMU services

i) Bengaluru –Neelmangala (Daily)
ii) Chhapra–Manduadih (6days a week)via Ballia
iii) Baramula–Banihal (Daily)
iv) Sambalpur–Rourkela (6 days a week)
v) Yesvantpur ­Hosur (6 days a week)

EXTENSION OF RUN OF EXISTING TRAINS

i) 22409/22410 Anand Vihar Sasaram Garib Rath Express to Gaya
ii) 12455/12456 Delhi Sarai Rohilla Sriganganagar Express to Bikaner
iii) 15231/15232 Gondia Muzaffarpur Express to Barauni
iv) 12001/12002 New Delhi Bhopal Shatabdi Express to Habibganj
v) 54602 Ludhiana–Hissar Passenger to Sadulpur
vi) 55007/55008 Sonpur–Kaptanganj Passenger to Gorakhpur
vii) 55072/55073 Gorakhpur–Thawe Passenger toSiwan
viii) 63237/63238Buxar–Mughalsarai MEMU toVaranasi
ix) 63208/63211Jhajha–PatnaMEMUtoJasidih
x) 64221/64222LucknowHardoi MEMU to Shahjahan pur
xi) 68002/68007Howrah–Belda MEMU to Jaleswar

*****

MKP/HK/Samir/sk

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Railway Budget 2014-15 – Suggestions of AIRF

All India Railwaymen’s Federation
4, State Entry Road,
New Delhi – 110055

No.AIRF/60

Dated: June 28, 2014

Hon’ble Minister for Railways,
Ministry of Railways,
(Government of India),
New Delhi

Respected Sir,
Sub: Rail Budget 2014-15 – AIRF’s suggestions

All India Railwaymen’s Federation(AIRF), the largest federation of the Ministry of Railways, would like to place following general and genuine demands of the Railwaymen and their dependents for inclusion in the forthcoming Rail Budget 2014-15.

1. The former Hon’ble Minister for Railways had made a number of announcements in regard to various Welfare Schemes while presenting successive Rail Budgets, that include opening of Medical Colleges, Nursing Colleges, Central Schools, Technical Institutions etc. was made. In addition. In addition, “Own Your House Scheme” and provision of Mobile Medical Van for treatment of Railway Staff and their families posted on roadside station, was also announced by them for the Railwaymen. It is unfortunate that the above schemes have yet not been seen the light of the day due to one reason or the other and no proper budget allocation is made for implementation of the same.

Ref.: (i) Para 32 of Hon’be MR’s Rail Budget Speech for the year 2009-10 in respect of setting up of Nursing College and Medical Colleges.

Ref.: (ii) Para 50 of Hon’be MR’s Rail Budget Speech for the year 2010-11 – Setting up of hospitals and educational institutions on surplus railway land.

Ref.: (iii) Para 61 of Hon’be MR’s Rail Budget Speech for the year 2011-12 in respect of setting up of Polytechnics

With a view to secure trust and believe of more than 13 lakh Railwaymen in the Railway Ministry, it would be quite appropriate that necessary budgetary provision is ensured in the forthcoming Rail Budget for the year 2014-15, so that there is some visible progress in this regard.

2. Extension of LARSGESS
The “Liberalized Active Retirement Scheme for Guaranteed Employment of Safety Staff” (LARSGESS) was introduced in the year 2010, modifying the “Safety Related Voluntary Retirement Scheme” in vogue, that came into effect in the year 2005.

This LARSGESS Scheme has been working quite successfully and satisfactorily in maintaining safety standards on the Indian Railways and has equally been found economically viable also, as such the scope of this scheme needs to be extended to cover all Safety Categories Staff working in GP up Rs.4600.

3. Improvement in the condition of Railway Colonies, roads and Running/Rest Rooms
A large number of Railway quarters are over-aged and their maintenance/repair is not practicable due to abnormally high cost. Due to paucity of sufficient funds, neither proper maintenance/repair of the Railway quarters is being managed nor new quarters built in replacement of the old-aged ones. The roads and drainage system in the Railway Colonies is also in very depleted condition. Similar is the condition of most of the Drivers/Guard’s Running Rooms, TTEs Rest Rooms, Subordinate Rest Houses and Rest Rooms for other Railways staff, as a result of which, these staff are not able to take proper rest therein.

Adequate funds needs to be allocated for improvement in the condition of Railway Colonies, Running Rooms, Rest Houses, Rest Rooms etc. as also for provision of separate Ladies Running Rooms/Rest Rooms, Toilets and Change Room for Women Railway Employees.

4. Improvement in medical facilities
Railway Health Services are getting deteriorated day-by-day due to non-availability of adequate number of Railway doctors, paramedical staff and infrastructure. Even life saving medicines are at times not being provided to Railway beneficiaries on account of paucity of resources. Proper allocation of funds for overall improvement in Railway Health Services is, therefore, required to be made so as to engage Specialist Doctors, paramedical staff and availability of proper quality of medicines, particularly life saving medicines from reputed firms. Sufficient number of specialized private or semi-government hospitals are also required to be recognized for treatment of Railway beneficiaries at all important stations.

The already announced “Smart Card” facility for getting cashless treatment in recognized hospitals has not yet been implemented despite lapse of sufficient time, as such this facility be introduced immediately for all existing and retired Railway employees so that they are able to get hassle-free treatment in emergency.

In the wake of present Central Government’s scheme to open Medical Colleges in all the district hospitals, all the Divisional Hospitals in the Railways should also be considered for opening of Associated Medical Colleges, wherein facilities available in this hospitals, like doctors, paramedical staff and other medical facilities can be made use of, because the Divisional Hospitals mostly cover more than one district.

There should be no age bar for getting treatment from the Railway Hospitals/Referral Hospitals for the wards of the Railwaymen, and the same should continue till marriage of the daughter or employment of the son without any age limit.

5. Filling up of Safety Category Posts
It is seen that despite several assurances by the Ministry of Railways, around 1.5 lakh Safety Category Posts always remain unfilled, which is a potential danger to the safety of rail operation. Some new mechanism, therefore, needs to be developed to fill up at least vacancies in the Safety Categories in a time bound manner, wherein priority needs to be given to the wards of the Railwaymen. This procedure was in vogue in the early 1990s

6. Extension of facilities of Privilege/Complimentary Passes
It may be recalled that, one of the former Hon’ble Ministers for Railways had announced to extend the benefit of Privilege/Complimentary Pass to both the parents of the Railwaymen and the officers, but the same is yet to be implemented. In case of Defence employees and other enterprises, both the parents are entitled to avail the facility of free travel, but not in the Railways, which is the largest transport system in our country. This needs to be implemented forthwith.

The facility of Post Retirement Complimentary Passes is being denied to all those Railway employees who could not complete 20 years of Qualifying Service due to their late entry in the Railways, either appointed on compassionate ground or absorption of Coolies, employment of Ex. Servicemen in Railways. Since all these appointments are made under special circumstances, the condition of minimum Qualifying Service of 20 years needs to be relaxed for such employees.

The age limit for entitlement of Passes also needs to be enhanced for dependent son in the present social scenario until they get employment, without any age bar.

7. Revision of New Pension Scheme
During the course of negotiations held with the Railway Board on 07.02.2014 on the 36-point Charter of Demands of the AIRF for Railway Strike, it was unanimously agreed that New Pension Scheme will be replaced with “Old/Guaranteed Pension Scheme” for those employed on or after 01.01.2004 on Indian Railways on the pattern of Defence personnel. The former Hon’ble MR had, therefore, taken up this issue with the Ministry of Finance also. Suitable measures be announced to meet the agreement arrived at between the Staff Side and the Railway Board.

8. Absorption of Quasi-Administrative Staff in the Railways
The Quasi-Administrative Staff employed on the Indian Railways be regularized and Railway Board may be instructed to restore the scheme for Quasi-Administrative Offices as being allowed in case of Railway Officers for engaging TADK/Bungalow Peon.

9. Provision of proper infrastructure and manpower while introducing new trains
New trains are being introduced as a regular measure without providing proper infrastructure and adequate manpower, resulting in increasing workload has become a safety hazard, owing to shortage of staff and improper infrastructure. Therefore, no new trains be introduced until proper infrastructure and adequate manpower is made available for running the same.

With kind regards!

sd/-
(Shiva Gopal Mishra)
General Secretary

Source : AIRF

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